51 Comments

WOW, this is a fantastic piece of work. I really wish new mappers would play stuff like this and say “That’s how I want my levels to look and feel!” and then go and do it.

These short but sweet maps really allow mappers to focus on quality and design rather than content. Enough ranting, sorry.

There are a couple of invisible walls at the beginning, but that’s nothing to complain about, it’s just the way these things re sometimes.

The route through the buildings is clear and the puzzle interesting enough to make you think about what you have to do. I was almost expecting more puzzles, but I suppose that it’s quite limited in its application and may become repetitive quickly.

It follows a fairly obvious flow but that doesn’t detract from how it plays.

The ending is a little bit abrupt but really, these a minor points.

It is fun to play and the effort and dedication put into it is clear.

Only two more points to make. One, let’s hope Magnar gets back onto Mission Improbable Three pretty quickly and he has also agreed to be a judge in my next mapping competition, which I’ll be announcing very soon.

I haven’t touched anything Source related in a while but damn, does this make me want Episode 3 sooner rather than later.

Absolutely marvelous level design, lighting, ambient sound effects; everything just went on perfectly. Two of my favorite aspects about it, apart from the otherwise perfectly nailed atmosphere, was how the author put in two different type of combat sections; i.e. in the beginning you progressed through the building killing zombies but then towards the middle you suddenly see a Combine dropship outside blazing past the window shattering the glass and for the rest of the duration of the map you have to fight combine soldiers.
The other cool and unique idea was the teleportation machine that you had to use in order to give enough electricity to open up doors.

Loved everything about it. Debating wherever I should pick a Play It Now! or a Personal Favorite. Bah, screw it; highest recommendation, here I come!

Just tried to make a let’s play of this, the recording didn’t work properly (arrgh!) but it was still a great map. The ambience of the exterior really built up tension and looked stunning, with a slightly cliched horror movie feel. The combat was good and the new mechanic was interesting, although I was intially confused by what I actually did – the first room should have made it more clear that it [spoiler] was the floor panels which you had to stand on [/spoiler] to open the doors. Overall short and sweet and definitely worth a play. We need these mods more often!

This map was fantastic. The author’s professional touch struck me from the beginning to the very end.

A lot of attention to detail prevails throughout this mod. Everything from the sound design to the very carefully constructed architecture screamed love and care. The lighting set the mood wonderfully and the foggy basements contrasted well with the more colorfully lit upper rooms.

The author carefully scripts and sets up every encounter. Jensen constructs the gameplay to use the very detailed interiors economically.

The new puzzle mechanic is very original and well done. I would have loved it seen used in different situations.

Overall I really enjoyed this map. It’s one of the best releases I’ve every played. Nobody will be surprised that this guy is a professional.

All I can say is WOW!
Intuitive navigation through map.
Intuitive puzzles.
Visionary beautiful.
Intense fights.
One or two”you will **** bricks” moments.
Tons and I mean TONS of little touches in details to make this map feel alive.

Clear example of “Quality above quantity”! Play it! It will be great 15-20 minutes!

Great map, but not as perfect as his Improbable Missions. For one after the great view from the outside I was expecting more from the interior, but it wasn’t delivered. Second, I was confused at first whether the disappearing of the weapons when using the teleport was a bug or not, especially as the latest weapon model appeared after reloading. This could have been hinted at on one of the black boards or cleared up by providing weapons right after the puzzles. Last not least, although it the was practically the end, the second removement of the weapons was un-called for as well…

I think the only reason this one won’t make my Personal Fave mark is that it’s too short. So very excellent in pretty much every way aside from length!

The detail and mapping is as always stunning. A very nice flow of events, though I was a little confused as to why I couldn’t get back into a spot even though it was easily seen as “open’. But still… just then the Combine came. 😉

Extremely clever use of a new type of game play element, I liked that quite a bit!

So yeah, skips the PM purely because it’s so short. But definitely worth the PIN level, and surely if this was ever expanded I know I’d revise into a PF.

Awesome map. As said, a little short, and a tiny bit laggy on my laptop, but I didn’t turn the details down.
But, glad I didn’t! This map has quality written all over it. There’s no empty spaces of childish textures. It could easily be a little diversion in one of the commercial episodes.
Can only hope whoever’s responsible can spare more time for us to make maps of this standard again.

For mind’s sake, this is not the most ridiculous mod on Earth. I hardly believe someone can have problems playing this. Anyway here is a clues for you:
[spoiler]You should go to the left from car, through trees and then into the basement.
Sooner or later you’ll discover a huge desk with test description. And after that – test itself. The goal is to use HEVcontainer-like device and then step on round pad within seven seconds. It will provide electricity to door and open it. Later you’ll meet more complex puzzle.
After that there’s nothing too hard, just escape and shooting.[/spoiler]

Love it! Took me 30 sec for the download it is was absolutely worth it.
Great work.
I especially loved the the beginning when you see the obervatory, I felt like I needed to explore this creepy place. The music was bang on while still using the classic half-life 2 sounds/beats.
Like LOKE pointed out I didn’t play a lot of Source related games (especially anything half-life lately) but WOW this was a memorable one.
Even if it’s on the short side, it’s up there with my personal favorites with the likes of Mission Improbable (wich was made by the same mapper if I am not mistaken??) and Riot Act.
Great job and Thank you!!

Whoopervatory is a beautiful work of art and a wonderful action set piece. Atmospheric and interesting with a bit of head scratching thrown in.
The crazy electro-teleporter was fun to use, even though it probably would have easier if I had actually bothered to read the instructions on the green-boards!
Running around weapon less with Combine vehicles flying past the big windows was a bit hair-raising, with not even a crowbar of comfort!
Weapons found and the Combine get creamed and then its alarms and panic!
An outstanding mod with so much packed into its short length and a fine ending.
Imagine a longer mod of this quality, wow!
Magnar Jenssen has surpassed his brilliant “Mission Improbable”.

Why this must be on the top rate??, just a simple 4 words equation: inovative+fun+combat=quality, I mean this is really different from all pure linear combat epicv, survival mods, after many days of HL1 nostalgia maps and mods, I started to feel a bit opaque or boring with the same dynamic in HL mods, no esceptions between HL1 & 2, this little fresh mod was like a breath of fresh air in experiencing gameplay.

This mod shows that u don’t necesary need to invent a new gameplay dynamic and sacrifice combat times, that’s why whoopservatory was cool, was fresh and it was a perfect mission for a mod, and maybe here we can apply the gold rule of make a simple idea, follow it and u get a really goldie mod.

No more words I liked this because was different was a rest for all that pure and strict blood mayhem in 98% of the mods i’ve played!

I thoroughly enjoyed this one. Like all of Magnar Jenssen’s previous mods, this mod is short and sweet.

The environment I played through was intricately detailed and from the beginning it absolutely oozed quality. I can see what the author was trying to achieve with the visuals and I think he pulled it off quite nicely.

I think this sort of work certainly raises the standard we expect from mods today. The only downside is that it may actually discourage newcomers from finishing and releasing their works because it isn’t to this standard. However, that’s a discussion for another day.

There was an interesting mix of puzzle solving and straight up combat. I liked the concept behind the puzzles but I was slightly disappointed that I didn’t get to do more with it. I really would have liked to see a combat application. The combat itself was pretty standard but the plentiful medkits and ammo crates made it so that it wasn’t terrible difficult.

All in all, this is wonderful piece of work. Great visuals, an interesting new gameplay mechanic and a hint of action to round it off. Definitely worth the time to play it.

Early on, I’m downstairs, I get what I have to do to provide energy for the doors. I can open the door where I have to crawl under the bed. I can energize the panel behind the screen so it alternates from red light to green. Presumably to be able to open a door next to it but over where the green tiles(?) are. However I can’t get any sequence that will allow access to the panel via the opening and closing door. So at this point I have to quit.

I see all the PF ratings and the mod does look great. However, how can anyone find this apparent dead end fun? Or is the rating nothing to do with enjoying the mod, just how complex it was made?

It took me a while to realize that the energy ball follows where you go. I thought it only did one point at a time, but it does more. I think you just need to go to the nearest one first and then the other one. Have you tried that?

Thanks for trying to help, Phillip. I had tried various combinations, perhaps 10-12 times. Tried again and the same problem. There is no access or way to activate the switch behind the fenced off area which can only be accessed by energizing the door. Once the energy gets the switch working, the door won’t work, and visa versa. The energy ball won’t follow me anywhere, I tried “using” it as it moves, get in its way etc.

I think it is a nice clean mod, well polished. Kind of puzzely though which isnt my cup, plus a lot of indoor sections, again not my thing. I can see where players may like this mod that dont have the hang-up’s I have. Certainly worth a play.

I was kind of disappointed when this ended. I felt like I had played the intro to a really great mod, but then it came to a sudden halt before it could really get going. It’s like playing the two simplest test chambers of Portal and finding out that you just beat the game. One tutorial “puzzle” and one simple puzzle that serves to teach a puzzle mechanic.

I really enjoyed this mod and especially the tight atmosphere! It is well crafted and the level design is above average. Normally, I would go with “Play it now”, but unfortunately it is way too short to merit such a recommendation. The length – or lack thereof – was actually even more of an issue for me because the mod was so excellent… Just when you are completely immersed in it you get so see the end credits. Still well worth a “Play it later” though…

An excellent mod, but the lack of puzzles/it’s length can’t allow me to give it a higher rating. It’s a innovative feature and something I hope to see again in another mod/game, the atmosphere is prefect; scary without being cheesy, great mapping work, and wasn’t expecting the ending but other than being a let-down was a good ending.

Very nice map, the best environment I’ve seen so far, and the cloning puzzles were also very fun 😉
I got stuck at the boarded up fence right before the gunship arrived and I never got to see the room with the charred corpse in the cloning machine because I noclipped through the hole with the zombie and the headcrab lying on the floor, which way did I have to go? I noticed brackets for a fuse near the “Keep Out” door, but I couldn’t find the fitting piece…
Anyways, very nice mod with much attention to detail 🙂

Sad to say it only feels like a MagnarJ mod visually. I didn’t enjoy how it all played out, since the very beginning.
I mean I’m given a car, obviously I got in that place by driving it, but it fails to indicate it’s now broken down and that I can’t use it. At least let me get in the car and start it if it doesn’t look damaged.. And I get to the mansion, of course front door is inaccessible, so predictable. Inside, all is cramped, very few zombies and an odd placed headcrab greeting me, they just felt like things in my way to pass the time as I’m getting to where I’m supposed to be – in a non-Black-Mesa Test Chamber. Oh and I noticed a bug, use something else for this red light in the first computer room, because it can be seen through the door. Now the experiment rooms could’ve been more detailed, having 3 or so separate rooms to present the whole thing also didn’t feel natural, if only there was a master room from where the player can observe the big main experimenting area. Guess I can blame replaying Anomalous Materials in the T.R.E.E. event.
Here it took me enough tries to realize that [spoiler]I’m the spark..[/spoiler] and felt that the 2nd puzzle was too Portalish which made the entire combat scenes useless for me, they just felt like fillers for a “proof of concept” mod wrapped up in eye candy.
Another bug, loading an autosave gave me a non moving crowbar in my inventory, no idea what you used for a weapon stripper. But also I was under the impression my suit was somehow taken away from me too? Because I can’t sprint.. yet I have flashlight and see my health.. tsk tsk.
I liked seeing two combine soldiers drop 1 floor down, idk if that’s in the original game or not, so congrats on scripting that one, was a nice change from them dropping through skylight on ropes.
That alarm really bugged me, I kept saying ‘someone needs to stop that alarm!” and was hoping for a switch somewhere.
I didn’t like bumping into invisible walls even in the end scenes. And overall it felt too cramped, I know some love that and I’ve seen good cramped areas, hell you made good ones in M:I but this was just too small for my taste, on all axes.
For such a short gameplay, I’d recommend one of the Guildhall productions, if anyone’s into proof of concept things (I enjoyed a few of those far more than I enjoyed this, tbh). The author did try to make it more than that but it didn’t fly for me. I still don’t get how I crashed the whole crib, as if that final push was of a self destruct button. And again, the combat was just filling, one time I even went “how did this super combine get here?!’, it must’ve just spawned as I advanced down some stairs..
I’m puzzled as I don’t know how to rate this. I’m just not on the same page as everyone else, I hope a “Maybe?” won’t be too harsh.

This map was fun to play in some senses, but the mechanic wasn’t really explained very well, nor was it used in much depth. Even at the end of the mod, I wasn’t 100% sure how it worked. So yeah, fun to play and a bit different, but the concept came off as a bit flimsy and all that was left after that was some low-action shooting.

I’m not sure about the positive comments from other users, for me this mod was average at best. The puzzle was really easy, some zombies at the start and then the usual combine fight. Everything was pretty straightforward, the game provides you immediately with all the weapons you need and the general shortness of the mod doesn’t help to leave an impression.

I’m trying to play this mod (which sounds amazing from what I hear), but I keep getting an error. I followed the directions carefully and copied the “obs” folder into the sourcemods folder, as well as restarted steam. The error is saying that the gameinfo.txt is not a valid format. Not sure what to do. I would appreciate any help — thanks!

This mod offers an interesting new mechanic, but its barely utilized. The setting is very quirky, much fitting of the personality of Dr. Magunusson and you can really buy that he may have worked here.
Is it just me or does the cross-hair not show in this mod?